The Cutting Edge of Cutting Edge Canine Cancer Research

The amazing work being done at KetoPet Sanctuary is something that every pet owner should be aware of. KetoPet Sanctuary gives us hope. Hope with a disease that takes far too many lives. Hope using the power of food.

I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Raybould, Executive Director at KetoPets Sanctuary. We chatted for about an hour, and I listened in awe of what these folks are doing. KetoPets is using foodas a cancer treatment. Food!

From the KetoPets Sanctuary website: “At KPS, we feed dogs a high-fat, adequate protein, and low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet for all of our canines while they are at the facility. Most nutritional protocols rely on faith, lacking objective metrics from which the diet can be analyzed. However, unlike other diets, the ketogenic diet is one type of nutritional protocol that can be assessed by examining blood glucose and ketone levels. By definition, a ketogenic diet is any diet that produces ketones, so we use blood metrics to determine the efficacy of the diet.”

“Ketogenic diets put our dogs in a state that limits cancer cells from getting access to glucose – effectively starving the cancer.”

“We spare no expense and use the diagnostic tools that physicians use to examine humans. This allows us to see where the tumor sites are, what the glucose uptake is in the cancer cells, and how effectively our protocol is reversing cancer. PET/CT scans give us a very strong indicator of these metrics, and we have very tight tracks on the status of cancer in each dog.”

KetoPets has adopted – unadoptable cancer diagnosed shelter dogs, some given only months to live – and provides them with a home and treatment. If the dog becomes cancer free, they are adopted.

Dora

Dora (above) was given less the three months to live when she came to KetoPets with mammary cancer. Last week Dora ‘graduated’ from KetoPets – cancer free – and was placed in a new forever home.

This is Spot (below).

Spot

“Spot arrived at KetoPets Sanctuary on 5/19/2016 after being diagnosed with a mast cell tumor located on his right rear thigh. This tumor was resected (removed) on 4/15/2016 before his arrival at KPS. Based on the PET/CT scan data, Spot was PET/CT Scan negative on day 60 of our protocol. Spot is currently cancer free and ready to be adopted.”

This is Jacy.

Jacy

“Jacy arrived at Keto Pet Sanctuary on 4/14/2016 after being diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma which was located on her right front leg. During her time at KPS she received two Pet/Ct scans to monitor the status of her cancer. Both scans revealed that there is no longer cancer present in the initial cancer location. Jacy is ready to be adopted and play fetch with her new owners.”

This is Avery.

Avery

“Avery arrived at Keto Pet Sanctuary on 4/7/2016 after being diagnosed with perivascular wall tumor (grade 1 soft tissue sarcoma) on 3/3/2016. Throughout her time at KPS Avery’s cancer has continued to decrease (comparing Pet/Ct Scans). She is a very happy and extremely energetic dog and would make a great addition to a loving family who is active.”

Hope.

The KetoPet folks are doing all of this research – for the most part – on their own dime. From Ron Penna co-founder of KPS “There’s no drug at the end of this rainbow. There’s no proprietary molecule that will solve the problem. As a result, there’s no one putting any money into researching this approach. Even though it’s the most powerful weapon on the cancer scene, there is no economic driver to incentivize investment into researching it. That’s what we’ve been doing – using our own money to test the idea and see if it’s really as powerful as we thought. We’ve been quietly validating just how powerful this approach is using our own funds and now we’re ready to get help from other people to continue furthering the knowledge of how best to apply it.”

Cancer is big business. Cancer treatments using food aren’t popular in traditional scientific circles; drug companies or hospitals don’t make money from food. Traditional medicine will shun and ridicule the concept of food treating or curing cancer. But my guess is that Dora, Spot, Jacey and Avery would tell the nay-sayers a different story if they could.

Comments 15

Great article. I recently donated to a drive to fund research on this very topic. Richard Feinman is a professor of biochemistry, and Eugene Fine a professor of radiology who are expert in this area, and having to crowdfund in order to do research. There’s no money from the drug companies for them. I had wondered if keto was a possibility for dogs. In fact, I came to a very low carb, sometimes ketogenic, way of eating through my dogs. I became so well-versed in canine nutrition, that I took a look at them, and figured I’d give it a go, too. Amazing results ditching the carbs and processed foods! Reversed every single health problem I had in a few weeks, just as raw does for many of our dogs. So I’m confident my dogs’ excellent diet will keep them with me for years.

Scientists and doctors presented evidence (and not just one source) back in the 40s and 50s that told the USDA and the FDA that food was the key to staying healthy for humans. Eating very little dairy and meat, and lots of plants, was the important part of what they advocated. The government totally rejected this because of a backlash from the diary and meat industries. So now, even though we are the richest country in the world, we are also probably the sickest. What you eat has more to do with your health that anything. Cancer is not overwhelmingly a result of genetics. Most cancers are a result of environment, bad food, I.e., processed, chemically laden, GMO foods, and a lack of fresh veggies and fruits, and it is increasingly being proven. Of course, just like we all know, with the attitude of the USDA and the FDA about pet food, the money interests are what is important. No people, not pets. If you are feeding your pet either the food you have prepared for it, or are buying only the ones that Susan recommends, you are unlikely to see cancer in your pet. My oldest dog is a standard poodle who is 14 years old. She is still free of any disease and doing very well. She gave us a scare back in 2007–which I believe was the result of the bad dog food on the market, and possibly the chicken treats–with a liver issue. Her vet could not pinpoint what exactly was wrong. That is when I started researching what could be the cause. I don’t know what led me to believe it was her food. But that is when I started preparing my dogs’ food, and giving her supplements like milk thistle seed. She no longer has any liver issues and is doing very well. So not only should you be giving your dog really good food that is not laden with chemicals, you should be eating more veggies and fruits, and very little meat or dairy. And make it organic–so you are not eating pesticides and Roundup.

Susan, thanks for sharing this information. One of my relatives, who was a clairvoyant and natural medicine healer, told our family 50 years ago that there was a natural cancer cure but that cancer was such a big business that mainstream medicine would not support it. I’m very excited to learn more and follow the amazing work of the KetoPet Sanctuary.

I didn’t know this organization even existed. Thank you very much for sharing this information. Would they be willing to give your readers some guidelines on what to feed our dogs to keep them cancer free and healthy if we are giving them people grade food?

Susan, thank you SO much for sharing this! To me, what the people at KetoPets are doing is the stuff of dreams… “if I won the lottery I would…”. God bless them for what they’re doing! I’m very interested in learning more about how to apply a ketogenic diet to dogs, as I’ve only heard about it being used for people but I know I would have to tailor it properly for what dogs need nutritionally. Is there any way KetoPets will be sharing a more detailed diet plan that people could follow at home? I’m anxious to get my lab mix on it, since he had a very large (benign) tumor removed last year, and although he’s doing fine, he’s getting a lot of those lumps and bumps that older dogs get and I worry for him. :-/

There are human doctors who have been saying that the cure for pretty much all diseases is wholesome food, especially a ketogenic diet…so this article does not surprise me at all.
After reading about how garbage is turned into pet “food” I understood why about 85% of American dogs die of cancer; that’s when I switched to a human grade, homemade raw food diet for the dogs. This is the future of health for all of us. Thanks for great, timely info as usual, Susan.

Yes, if such a serious (often fatal) disease can be treated with healthy, whole food, then it only stands to reason that a healthy, whole food PF diet, would help to prevent disease in your dog in the first place. It certainly stands to reason, it would add some good years to his lifespan.